"They're a hot entity. They're catching up," Hank Wilfong Jr., president of the National Association of Small Disadvantaged Businesses, said Friday.

The female ownership rate was about a third in the other minority categories: Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native and Asians and Pacific Islanders.

There were about 3 million minority businesses, including more than 923,000 with female owners and 451,000 with women who owned half the firm, the report said. The Commerce Department said there were about 717,000 minority-women business owners in 1992.